BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Donner wrote:... We want to find out NOW if it really needs something else like the EGDMs internal treble/presence trim .... or if it just should not be used with certain rigs....

Rather than an internal treble, I'd prefer to see an internal bass trimmer. I think the SYOD's treble control allows sufficient taming of the high end to dial it into an amp, but a little more thump from the low end can't be achieved on the current model. In fact, ideally I would prefer the external treble control to exclude the top 45% of it's range and zoom in on the rest.

The pedal would benefit greatly from a bass trimmer, especially when using as a stand alone drive or boost. Had my LPOD such an internal bass/thump control, I would have tweaked it for some more almost immediately.

yeah I agree with you Tea, I would rather see a bass trimmer if anything.
When I use the SBEQ with it afterwards to add bass,,,it seems to have just about the perfect levels of eq then.

After a couple of rehearsals and the weekend's gigs with the SYOD I feel qualified to post some initial impressions regarding the SYOD.

For everyone's reference the signal path was SYOD>Timmy>RC Booster>Donnerised Tap-A-Whirl>Replica>65 Amps London 212 combo(loaded with greenbacks).

The guitars used were a GVCG Lollar loaded Copper '52 Relic Tele and a Lollar Special loaded Blonde '54 Relic Tele.

OK, well. So far the SYOD is stacking up quite nicely. For my Alt-Country/Americana-ish tones I have the gain set around about 10 o' clock, the tone was back at about 9 o'clock and volume set a bit above unity to drive the already slightly clipping London.

I noticed that as others have said the SYOD is certainly more in your face than the only other BJFE overdrive I've had, the HB. I found that it has a crunch tone that I'd describe as being "solid" with a slight upper-mid jangle quality-the way I set it anyway. Stacked with the Timmy I got a satisfying singing lead tone with enough definition for the overdriven double-stops and bends that are a large part of my style.

Although the SYOD is overall on the bright side I found enough range in the treble control to tweak with my Teles' bridge pickups. I would probably never use the gain set higher than mid-way where things tend to take on a slightly more "distortion" characteristic with my lower headroom amps and I would love to see the addition of a low or resonance control to tune the bottom end to different amps.

good useful reviews guys, thanks...

by lows are we talking 'bass' or 'low mids' and if any of you have an SBEQ is that the lows you are talking about ?/?

Whew. Been really busy lately. The SYOD is indeed bright especially with my Tele and AC30 inspired amp but it is not piercing. I don't know if a bass internal trim would be quite right for it. Maybe a bass focus knob to go from tight to super tight or to decide how much bass is present. Some of the best OD's were in fact boosters that attenuated the bass a touch to help the rig cut. This is like an OD and a Treble booster had a baby but it leans toward the OD a bit more to me.

This OD is very different than the HB. It's almost like it's opposite but with BJ's familiar feel. It is very punchy and there is some grit to it too. I can see why it is some guy's fave BJF so far. It is very up front and in your face even more so than other BJ designs. I'm not sure where it will fit into my pallette yet.

I think some folks will not like the slight bass rolloff while others will love it. It depends on the rig and application really.

Either way, it is another great flavor from the master. I'm running out of room on my pedalboard really fast!

Howdy J,

In case you run out of space in your board with SYOD, I?m more than glad to get yours in my good home.. I have some space in my board..

Thanks,

Jussi.

Either way, it is another great flavor from the master. I'm running out of room on my pedalboard really fast![/quote]

[quote="JKoeth"] This is like an OD and a Treble booster had a baby but it leans toward the OD a bit more to me. [quote]

This almost sounds like the Carb, except probably alittle more with the "in your face description".

Maybe this could be a pedal I need to check out someday?

Donner wrote:
by lows are we talking 'bass' or 'low mids' and if any of you have an SBEQ is that the lows you are talking about ?/?

good question,,,personally I like lows from the SBEQ with the SYOD before it. So I assume this would be 'bass' freq. I find the LGW fits more my 'low mid' needs for this range of drive.
I did try the mid Humper with it and prefer the SBEQ..Not sure the PHumper is necessarily designed to do low mids though.
Perhaps I wouldnt use added bass all the time with the SYOD, but might be nice to have a set and forget adjustment for that range.

Not to change the subject entirely but, got a wild hair on the drive home from work today listening to Monte Montgomery and wondered how my little Honey Bee and SYOD would sound through the Flexi 50 with my Adamas acoustic electric. Well, I said it was a wild hair. Perhaps it was outright perfidy.

Anyway, after I subdued the overal amp gain, the Honey Bee fattened everything up rather nicely. I kicked in a bit of the SYOD to get some grind and it gave me just that.

Tried Collective Soul's "She Said" with just the HB and it was quite good. Dig in with the pick and you get a little overdrive. Dig in too hard and you get ear pain. Tried Three Doors Down "Love Me When I'm Gone" and I could "touch" the higher gain sections with the SYOD engaged. Overall, I was quite pleased.

I'm still having a grand time with my SYOD!!

cabo wrote:

Donner wrote:
by lows are we talking 'bass' or 'low mids' and if any of you have an SBEQ is that the lows you are talking about ?/?

good question,,,personally I like lows from the SBEQ with the SYOD before it. So I assume this would be 'bass' freq. I find the LGW fits more my 'low mid' needs for this range of drive.
I did try the mid Humper with it and prefer the SBEQ..Not sure the PHumper is necessarily designed to do low mids though.
Perhaps I wouldnt use added bass all the time with the SYOD, but might be nice to have a set and forget adjustment for that range.

So do you think the SBEQs bass knob or the LGWs body knob would be more appropriate as an additional tweek ??